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Galway Races organisers are still confident of creating an atmosphere around this year's festival despite it taking place behind closed doors.

The annual meeting which runs from July 27 to August 2 is one of the social events of the year, with almost 130,000 punters attending in 2019.

Organisers have plenty of plans to keep people engaged during the 2020 festival with Galway Racecourse manager Michael Moloney stating that the tradition of The West's Awake being sung before the first race could still be done - but virtually.

He told The Irish Mirror: "We've a lot planned that we can do in terms of getting people engaged in the Summer Festival. Obviously it's a huge part of the summer, everyone from around the country keeps an eye on it for the last week of July.

"We certainly have options in terms of virtual Ladies Day or the virtual West's Awake. There's lots we can do. It would be great for people who are looking for an alternative to their current situation and maybe sport in terms of racing might give them a little bit of an outlet if it was on TV.

"I think people would be keen to see it and have something as an outlet. I think there'll still be a keen interest in it."

Moloney believes it's unlikely that any more than one owner per horse will be allowed to attend the meeting, but thinks that number could possibly be increased for fixtures later in the year.

He added: "I think we're going to come up too early in terms of the roadmap from the government. Maybe that's something towards later in the year, in terms of Champions Weekend or something like that.

"I think we just might be a little bit early and more than likely we'll be restricted to very small numbers behind closed doors.

"There's the option to have owners or a syndicate ready to go on Zoom. I know everyone 's being very creative. RTE are being very creative as well in terms of how they're interviewing guests etc. I think there's certainly the opportunity to create an atmosphere. Everyone just has to be a little bit more creative."